Day 9
Trsteno and the arrival in Dubrovnik
Morning
Sobra-Prapratno ferry and Trsteno Arboretum
Back on the mainland, then a forty-five-minute drive south. Trsteno Arboretum was planted at the end of the 15th century around the summer villa of the Gučetić family: it is the oldest botanical garden in the region, twenty-eight hectares (69 acres) of cypresses, palms, citrus trees and species brought back by Ragusan sea captains. Its Neptune fountain dates from 1736 and its aqueduct from the 15th century is still working. The garden was shelled and set on fire in 1991, and its restoration is still under way.
Afternoon
City walls and the Stradun
The circuit of the walls is 1,940 m (6,360 ft) long, up to 25 m (82 ft) high and 6 m (20 ft) thick on the landward side: they have never been breached. The Stradun, below, is a former lagoon filled in during the 11th century, which joined the town's two original settlements; its uniform façades date from the rebuilding after the 1667 earthquake, when the Republic imposed a single architectural style so that everything could be rebuilt quickly.
Onofrio's Fountain, Sponza Palace, Rector's Palace and the Franciscan pharmacy
The Large Onofrio Fountain, at the entrance to the Stradun, was the end point in 1438 of a twelve-kilometer (7.5 mi) aqueduct. The Sponza Palace, the former customs house, holds the archives of the Republic, a thousand years of documents, and the memorial to the defenders of 1991. The Rector's Palace, Gothic and Renaissance, housed the rector, who was elected for one month only so as to prevent any concentration of power. In the Franciscan monastery, the pharmacy has been running since 1317: it is one of the oldest in Europe still in business.
Good to know
Tickets for the walls at citywallsdubrovnik.hr, one-way route, allow two hours. Go at opening time or in the late afternoon (there is no shade on the route, and the Old Town clogs up when the cruise ships disembark in the middle of the day). The car stays outside the walls, with parking at Gruž or at the Ilijina Glavica parking lot.
